


Cloak

by VulgarAssassin



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Jinchuuriki-centric, Self-Esteem Issues, Slow Romance, Training
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:20:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23396143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VulgarAssassin/pseuds/VulgarAssassin
Summary: Naruto's return to Konoha is delayed as Jiraiya seeks information about the Akatsuki from a contact in the Land of Lighting. During their stay, Naruto involves himself in a skirmish between one of Kumo's jinchuriki and the Akatsuki. Yugito's impressive use of her bijuu leads Jiraiya to ask the Raikage for an incredible favour. Naruto's homecoming might need to wait a little longer.
Relationships: Nii Yugito/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

Naruto felt the surge of chakra first, it was startling enough for him to drop the dango he was eating. The chakra felt familiar, yet mostly alien to him. It was not the feeling of human chakra, but still different from the malicious nature of the Kyuubi’s chakra. An explosion instantly roused him from his thoughts, and he estimated it came from about five or so klicks from his vantage point on the tree he was lounging on. From his position he could see the explosion rip apart a large building from within, creating a new entrance.

Naruto found himself bounding towards the building despite knowing he should not involve himself in conflict. Jiraiya warned him not to look for trouble, even if they were in the Land of Lightning legally, they would not doubt punish Konoha ninja more harshly. The Sannin was also keying in on some details about the Akatsuki with one of his foreign contacts, and Naruto knew jeopardizing an important contact would earn him more than just Jiraiya’s ire, yet he swiftly headed toward the explosion, nonetheless.

Naruto needed to find out what that chakra was and who was using it.

It only took him a few minutes to reach his destination. He slowed down and quietly approached the area, hiding behind trees on his way there. He could hear the sound of a battle occurring, the clashing of metal, and the stench of sweat and blood. He could also feel that undecipherable chakra thrumming. Naruto snuck through some of the debris from the broken wall until he found a good vantage point to view the action without exposing himself.

His blood nearly boiled when he saw the printing of red clouds on the midnight black cloaks.

‘Calm down, calm down!’ He urged himself mentally. He refused to allow the Kyuubi’s chakra to seep out and expose himself. Taking in a deep breath, he viewed the battlefield more intently. He somehow missed it before because the distinctive cloaks of the Akatsuki members caught his attention first, but he could not believe he did not see this hulking beast immediately.

The creature was fire. The blue flames licking out every which way from its core, surrounding it and creating a form that mimicked the shape of a cat. It had two eyes, one green and the other yellow, as well as a mouth filled with sharp teeth. Two large tails swung vigorously from behind it. He could feel the unknown chakra emanating from the beast.

The creature was in battle with one of the two Akatsuki members. A man with grey, slicked-back hair, wielding a multi bladed scythe. The other Akatsuki member simply stood in the background, seemingly satisfied with watching the battle and avoiding any attacks directed his way. The beast let out a concentrated ball of flames from its mouth toward the grey-haired ninja who barely dodged it, the attack singing the hem of his cloak. The ball of chakra smashed into the ground, erupting and spewing heat. Even though Naruto was many feet away from the action, he could feel the searing heat flush against his skin.

The fighting Akatsuki member threw his scythe at the cat-like creature and made contact with its blue body. Naruto noticed that he was using a chain that attached to the end of the scythe. The beast retreated and the scythe slid out cleanly from its body. The Akatsuki member pulled on the chain and returned the scythe to his hand; however, he kissed his teeth in disgust.

“Might need some help Kakazu, this kitty is a bit too quick for me to land a blow on the host body.”

“It’s like clockwork with you, you ask to do things alone and then cry for help when you can’t do it. Are you a child Hidan?” The member known as Kakazu stepped forward, settling beside Hidan.

“Oh, shut it!” Hidan spat.

Naruto started preparing himself and quietly summoned several clones. The beast was struggling to land attacks on the single ninja, he knew it was not be able to handle two.

“Next time, just leave the Jinchuriki to me.”

Naruto nearly gasped. The chakra…no wonder. He did not understand why it did not hold the same malevolent energy as the Kyuubi’s chakra, but he would deal with that later. Naruto heard the sound of coils being unwound and peeked his head out to see that Kakazu’s forearm had detached from the rest of its body, black tendrils still connecting it to the arm, and was speeding toward the two-tailed Jinchuriki.

The cat beast dodged and began preparing another blast of fire chakra when Kakazu’s second arm wrapped around the beast, attempting to contain it. The beast struggled against the arm and its threads crowding it and was nearly free with the first arm also wrapped itself around, double locking it.

“Quickly, Hidan!” The threaded shinobi ordered his partner.

“Giant Rasengan!” Naruto and his clones jumped out from their cover and slammed the spheres into the chests of each Akatsuki member, surprising them both. The attack engulfed the two shinobi in its swirling chakra and flung them across sinking them deep into the stone wall on the other side of the open area. Some of Naruto’s clones threw kunai with attached exploding tags into the holes in the wall that were imprinted by the bodies. Naruto shielded his eyes from blinding light emitted by the tags as they exploded in unison.

He heard the deep growling coming from a few meters away and turned to face the two tailed beast. The blond Konoha-nin could sense the anger and confusion displayed in the beast’s eyes. Naruto dismissed his clones and then raised both his hand, palms facing toward the Jinchuriki, in a sign of peace.

“I came to help! I’m like you!” Naruto explained, wondering if the beast could understand him.

“ **You are Jinchuriki**?” The beast’s voice was surprisingly leathery smooth.

Naruto nodded, “Yes! I just want to help!”

The beast narrowed its eyes at the shinobi. “ **I have questions, but they can wait. I don’t think they are finished.** ”

On cue, Hidan crawled out of the hole, burn marks, heavily bleeding cuts, and bruises littered his body. There was also a large hole in his chest where the Rasengan had landed, yet somehow, he was not dead. Even more striking, and frightening, was that he sported a large grin.

“What the fuck?” Naruto was shocked the man had not been killed.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t our lucky day Kakazu. A two for one deal! Ain’t that what you love you cheapo?”

The second member also escaped his hole looking far more annoyed than his partner. His cloak had been shredded apart and Naruto could see the grotesque nature of his body. Various stitchings lined his body, and, from his view point, Naruto could see that there were masks attached to his back.

“The bastard killed one of my hearts.” The ninja hissed. “I can’t even take his because we need to extract him.”

“Uh oh, looks like you made Kakazu mad.” The grey-haired shinobi cackled. “Angering him is almost bad as angering Jashin-sama!”

The threaded shinobi grunted as the masks expunged themselves from his back. Each formed a small beast consisting of dark tendrils.

“Ugh, disgusting!” Naruto couldn’t hold his thoughts to himself.

One of the masked creatures slumped over, its mask cracked. Letting out a whimper, it became motionless.

“Wow, never seen your heart die before. Looks gross, all limp and shit.” Hidan commented, poking the dead creature with his scythe.

“I’ll handle this, Hidan.”

“No way! I want some fun too.” Kakazu’s partner quickly rebutted.

“ **You, start using your powers. I don’t think we can handle them as regular shinobi**.”

“I don’t…alright fine. Let’s end this quick.” Naruto was hesitant to use the Kyuubi’s powers, but he was not about to die here because he feared his tenant. He had too much he needed to accomplish.

“Grahhhhh!” Naruto roared, forcing the Kyuubi’s chakra out from its owner. The malicious chakra bubbled and swirled around the blond shinobi, forming a cloak of blood red chakra. Three tails sprouted behind him, and his features became more animalistic, with black marks staining around his lips and eyes. His eyes became ruby red with his pupils shifting into slits.

Yugito gave the boy a once over, feeling the malicious nature of his chakra seeping out from his cloak. It was a type of chakra Yugito had not felt in many, many years. The type of charka that extruded the deep seated hatred between host and bijuu.

“ **You…which number are you**?”

“Nine tails.” Naruto grunted, his voice now far more coarse and gravelly.

“ **Yet, you only go to your third tail**?”

“It’s all I can control!” Naruto belted out angrily.

“ **I see…get ready nine. They will approach soon**.”

“It’s Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki.”

“ **…you can call me Yugito. I’m not sure about the scythe wielder’s powers, other than his ludicrous ability to take damage, but it seems the other one has multiple hearts. At least one in each mask, and maybe one in himself**.” 

Naruto nodded toward the fully powered jinchuriki and tensed his body in preparation for the fight.

Hidan was the first to move, rushing Yugito, his scythe drawn. Naruto intercepted him, sharply kicking his hand, knocking the scythe away, then used his chakra cloak to form an arm to grab the man and fling him at his partner.

Yugito already prepared a ball of pure fire chakra which she launched toward the Akatsuki duo.

Kakazu calmly sidestepped to avoid his partner’s thrown body, who crashed into the ground, bouncing several times, and flashed through several hand seals.

“Water Style: Great Jet Stream!” One of the masks open its mouth and a surge of water rushed out of it. The stream of water collided with the searing ball of fire chakra. Both attacks neutralizing each other, however they created a thick steam that clouded the area. Fortunately, neither jinchuriki needed their sense of sight to battle properly.

Naruto sent out another arm of chakra to grab the water style mask and drag it towards himself, preparing a Rasengan in his other hand. The mask tried to struggle out, but Naruto was too quick and drove the ball of chakra into the mask, crushing it and killing another heart.

“Fuck.” Kakazu’s voice pierced through the steam. “Can’t mess around with these kids Hidan, they killed another heart while I wasn’t paying attention. Get the fuck up.”

“Damn, I can’t see shit! Do something old man.” The zealot whined.

“So, fucking useless Hidan.” The man flashed through hand seals. “Wind Style: Pressure Damage.” This time the masked creature with wings blasted out wind chakra. It was easily dodged by the jinchuriki, but Naruto realised they had simply used the technique to clear out the steam.

“Ahhh, much better. Now, time to spill some blood for Jashin-sama.” The grey-haired zealot snarled. He once again rushed Yugito, this time bare handed. The fully formed jinchuriki meet with a swing of its paw. The Jashinist let the paw collide into him, but gripped onto it, not allowing the cat-beast to send him flying. He stubbornly stuck on as the beast swung him around.

Naruto began to approach the two, planning to separate the Akatsuki member from his fellow jinchuriki, but was halted by the two approaching masks. One flying above him and the other approaching from the ground in a run. The flying mask shot out bursts of wind chakra at Naruto, which he easily avoided. Naruto ran at the ground-based mask and maneuvered around a strike from it. The blond then jumped on top of it and used it as a leap board to reach the wind-based mask in the air. Wrapping his chakra arms as well as his tails around the flying mask to limit its movements, Naruto began to use his physical arms to rip off the mask.

However, he heard the crackling of a lighting style jutsu and was shocked to see a spear of lightning headed towards him and the flying mask. Naruto, bounced off, expecting the attack to hit the wind-based mask, but underestimated its agility, which allowed it to narrowly escape any damage.

“You’re a slippery kid, I’ll have to kill you myself.” With that statement, the two masks retreated towards their master and fused back with Kakazu’s body. Tendrils erupted out of the man, splitting several of his joints and limbs as the threads slipped out imitating a marionette like creature.

Naruto started forming a Rasengan when a feminine scream pulled his attention toward the Jashinist and Yugito. The hulking, chakra emanating beast was gone, in its place a blonde-haired female wearing a purple blouse and green pants, several cloud designs appearing on them. A freshly bleeding wound was on her side, soaking through her blouse and darkening its tone.

The Akatsuki member had also undergone a transformation. His skin was now pitch black, with what appeared to be white face paint in the design of a skull covering him. He was standing in a strange symbol made of blood. The Jashinist had a blade impaled in his side, all the way to its hilt.

“Don’t play around Hidan, knock her out quickly!” Kakazu barked at his partner.

“I know, but all I have is this stupid knife, right now. Might take a bit. If I accidently kill her, Pain is going to have my head, y’know?” Hidan drew his small blade out of his side and brought it slightly higher before plunging it in his body again.

Yugito once again yelled out in pain.

“Yugito!” Naruto called out in trepidation.

“The bastard…he’s hurting us both at the same time somehow.” Yugito huffed between painful breaths.

“Nuh, uh, don’t spill my secrets little kitty.” The zealot sneered before pulling out his blade again, and quickly plunging it into his other side, making sure he avoided the vitals. He then viciously ripped the knife upwards until he hit his ribcage. This time Yugito fell to her knees, the pain too much for to handle on her feet. Blood was beginning to form a small pool beneath her.

“Enough!” Naruto gnashed at Hidan, furious at the damage he was doing to his fellow jinchuriki.

Naruto crouched and placed his hands on the floor, then he sprinted in a quadrupedal manner towards the Jashin worshiper.

“As if I’d let you.” Scoffed Kakazu as he flashed hand seals. “Wind Release: Pressure Damage!”

The giant blast of wind chakra rushed towards the sprinting shinobi. Naruto did not halt or escape, but rather turned his head towards the incoming attack and roared.

The primal scream was infused with chakra and negated the wind attack. Kakazu was momentarily stunned by the display and Naruto was able to slam into Hidan, gripping him and rolling away from the circle. He pinned the zealot’s hand behind his head to stop him from further harming himself, and by proxy Yugito. Naruto began to make another chakra arm to pin down the grey-haired shinobi so he could deal with Kakazu when he felt two legs strongly wrap around his waist. Naruto tried to pry off the Jashin worshiper’s legs from his back, but Hidan was steadfast in his hold.

“You fucked up kid.” Hidan sneered at the blonde shinobi.

“Naruto, behind!” Yugito coughed weakly from her position. She was now sprawled on the ground. Her hands attempting to pressure her wounds on one side.

Naruto craned his neck to see behind himself and stared in despair as a spear of electricity quickly snaked its way towards him, nowhere to run.

Naruto blinked. When he opened his eyes, he saw fleshy skin surrounding him and Hidan. Before he could take any other details in, the sound of jutsu colliding with the flesh startled him. He saw the flesh indent itself from the pressure caused by the attacks, but it was not penetrated.

“Don’t worry, those techniques won’t pierce the toad esophagus.”

“Pervy-sage…” Naruto was delighted to see his teacher. However, the stoic stare the great sage gave him made Naruto aware of the trouble he was in.

“We’ll talk about your stupidity later. Let’s finish these goons off.”

“Oi, where the fuck are we, you assholes?” The foul mouthed Akatsuki member snarled.

“Your deathbed, scum. Naruto leave him here.” Hidan began to sink deeper into the flesh, forcing him to release his leg lock on the younger shinobi.

“Hey, hey, hey! What the fuck are you doing to me?” Hidan started screaming in fear as half his body was engulfed by the flesh.

“Pervy-sage we can’t kill him, it’ll affect Yugito as well!” Naruto explained.

“Seems like he’s a Jashinst, from what I know their rituals need blood sigils. She’ll be fine if I kill him here. Now let’s deal with the other one before he kills the girl.” Jiraiya opened a hole in the toad esophagus and the mentor and pupil exited, leaving behind the still screaming Akatsuki member.

“Damn it.” Naruto muttered as he released the chakra he stole from the Kyuubi. He nearly fell over from exhaustion but helped himself balance by placing his hands on his knees. “Getting too hard to control. I might have gone four tails if I kept it up.” Naruto told his teacher before he even asked for an explanation. 

“Can you still fight?” Jiraiya knew he could be the lone Akatsuki member by himself, but it would be much easier if his pupil was still able to fight.

“Yea, I’ve got enough chakra, but using the nine tails chakra for so long’s got me tired.” Naruto did not lie to his teacher but hid the severity of his exhaustion.

Jiraiya nodded at his pupil, “Lets end this quick then.”

“The Great Toad Sage…Jiraiya. You have quite the bounty on your head.”

“A bounty doesn’t mean much if you can’t cash it in.”

Kakazu laughed. “I suppose that’s true. But don’t underestimate me. I’m not a weakling like Hidan.”

“Naruto,” The toad sage whispered to his protégé, “flank him and watch his back. He’s going to try and escape even though he’s talking big.”

“Okay pervy-sage, but just so you know he’s got three hearts. One in each mask and then he’s got his own.” Naruto explained Yugito’s observation to the sage.

Jiraiya nodded grimly. The Akatsuki were a strange group of people, having multiple hearts did not surprise Jiraiya, but it did disgust him. 

Kakazu grunted and spat out more tendrils from his mouth. The threads also burst out from the open joints in his body and back, forming eight thick limb-like extensions from his body, along with many extra thin fibers surrounding him.

The teacher and student duo advanced on the remaining Akatsuki member. Kakazu whipped several of his tendril limbs at them. They danced around each attack, approaching without halting. Naruto peeled off from his teacher and quickly summoned a clone to check up in Yugito. The real body pivoted and began flanking Kakazu.

The Akatsuki member noticed this and, while sending all eight limbs to occupy Jiraiya, shifted his lightning mask toward the blonde shinobi and sent another spear of lightning at him.

“Woah!” Naruto yelped in surprise as he quickly summoned a clone and leapt off its back to avoid the attack. He summoned another clone in midair and used the clone to swing the original body swiftly back onto the ground. The boy landed and continued his stride without halting his momentum.

Kakazu was too busy handling the toad sage to attempt another attack on the jinchuriki. The Sannin spat several fire balls at the Akatsuki member, who had no choice but to leap to avoid taking damage.

“Rasengan!” A clone of Naruto was waiting in the air and slammed the attacked into Kakazu sending him back flying into the ground.

‘Fuck, I was barely able to get the Earth Style technique off to defend myself. This is a lost cause; my chakra is low, and I can’t handle the Sannin by myself. I’ll have to abandon my hearts so they can distract them while I escape.’ Kakazu thought morosely.

“Giant Rasengan!”

Kakazu was forcefully roused from his thoughts as he barely dodged the Sannin’s technique. The jutsu was almost twice the size of his pupil’s version. Kakazu expelled the two masks from his body once again, sending them both at the toad sage on a suicide mission. Turning around to escape, he saw the other Konoha shinobi waiting for him, standing in the way of the exit.

‘The kid shouldn’t be much trouble without his bijuu’s chakra.’ Kakazu rushed the lone shinobi.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu!” Several clones appeared around the blonde. He began forming another Rasengan.

“Not likely, brat!” Kakazu hissed as he detached both his forearms and sent them at the clones knocking them out and forcing the one forming the Rasengan to leap away. Naruto just smirked.

Kakazu felt a force slam him from behind, forcing him to the ground. Two kunai pierced each of his shoulders and heard multiple hissing sounds.

“Fuuuuuc-” The immortal shinobi’s words were cut short as the three exploding tags detonated together shredding his body apart into chunks that rained in the air.

“Ugh, that’s nasty!” Naruto groaned in disgust as he covered his head from the parts and blood falling from the sky. Turning to his teacher, Naruto saw that he had already dispatched the last two hearts. Naruto was unsure how much damage they could do without their original body anyway.

Instead of meeting up with his master, who was checking on the toad esophagus, Naruto sprinted toward the wounded kunoichi. His clone was bandaging the girl with the superficial medical knowledge he had.

“How is she?” Naruto asked his clone.

“I don’t know man. She passed out. I used disinfectant and wrapped the wounds, but they were deep. Some of them are still bleeding. I think we should get her to a hospital.” Worry was thick in the clone’s voice.

Naruto nodded at the clone and dismissed it. Naruto felt a tug on his shoulder and Naruto turned around to get slapped harshly by his master. Naruto took it with a grunt, but said nothing, simply rubbing his cheek.

“You idiot, what in hell were you thinking!? You could have easily gone into four tail mode, or worse you could have gotten yourself killed! Why did you leave the town when I told you not to? How could you try and fight Akatsuki without me? Better yet, why didn’t you even send a Shadow Clone tell me!” Jiraiya was fuming at his pupil. The boy had done plenty of stupid things during their three-year journey, but this was by far the most suicidal.

“Sensei,” Naruto appealed to him with the rare use of a respectful title, “You can beat me, you can yell at me, you can do whatever you want to me, but please do it after I take her to a hospital.”

“The nearest hospital is in Kumogakure, it’s too far, not to mention how much trouble we will be in if we bring a busted up jinchuriki back with us. We are Konoha-nin, the best relationship we can get with Kumo-nin is tolerance! If we are lucky, we might get jailed, but who knows what they might try and do to us.” Jiraiya tried to plead with his student. “Take her to the village, they can handle it.”

Naruto shook his head and placed the girl on his back, carrying her piggy back. “I’m not risking it, not going to let her die because she didn’t get proper treatment.”

“She’s a jinchuriki she will be f-” Jiraiya was unable to finish his sentence as Naruto leveled him with a venomous glare. The toad master winced internally as he knew he shot himself in the foot with that assertion.

“Direction, distance.” Naruto muttered as he shuffled Yugito in the easiest position for him to move.

“Look at you, you’re not even going to make it.” Jiraiya’s voice thick with concern for the boy. He was swaying unsteadily on his feet. The Toad sage knew that using the three tailed form in such an intense fight would drain him like nothing else.

“I’ll make it! Please tell me the direction and how far.” Naruto nearly growled at his sensei.

Jiraiya sighed in defeat. “Northwest, forty klicks.” Jiraiya ran a hand through his spikey hair. “At least tell me why you are doing this.”

Naruto stared into his teacher’s eyes. Jiraiya could see the determination burning within him. “She’s just like me, hunted just for existing. We aren’t pawns, we aren’t tools, we exist, we are human. It could have been me sensei! I’m not going to let her die, I have to save her…I will save her.”

Jiraiya closed his, exhausted by his student’s resolve.

“Alright, let’s go.” 


	2. Chapter 2

The teacher and student vaulted through the trees toward Kumogakure with haste. In his exhausted state, the unconscious jinchuriki on Naruto’s back caused him great discomfort, but he bore his burden with gritted teeth and no complaints. The two moved in in relative silence, the only sounds coming from the wind blowing by as they leapt across the canopies, and the laboured panting from the blonde Konoha shinobi. Jiraiya watched the two jinchuriki as he and Naruto jumped through the tree tops. He had only seen the tail end of the battle between the Akatsuki members and the jinchuriki, but those few minutes had loaded him with many questions.

“Naruto,” the toad sage started, “that girl…do you know which bijuu she has?”

Naruto glanced at his teacher, eyes narrowed slightly, “She said…she has…the two tailed-beast.” Naruto slowly grunted out through his fatigue. This made Jiraiya’s mind swirl. He saw the girl as the beastly creature with two full tails when she used her bijuu’s powers. She did not resemble the cloak that Naruto created when he used his bijuu’s chakra. Had she let the beast take control of her?

“Naruto, how come she didn’t attack you? She looked like she completely lost control to her bijuu.”

“She didn’t.” Naruto answered. “She…was in…control.”

“How could that be possible?!” Jiraiya was unable to equate what he was hearing with he saw.

“I dunno…but, I was…never in danger…s’if that’s…what you are…thinking.” Naruto huffed out.

Considering his words, Jiraiya realised one key difference between Naruto and the girl, was the feel of the chakra when they used their bijuu’s power. There was no mistaking the corrupted nature of the Kyuubi’s chakra. It was the feeling of hate seeping out and entering your pores. Repulsive and frightening. That was the reason he was able to easily locate Naruto, one he began using the Kyuubi’s chakra. The chakra of the girl’s bijuu, on the other hand, was not comparable to the Kyuubi’s. It was foreign but did not pulsate with the negative emotions of the nine tails.

“A deal? A relationship, perhaps?” The toad sage muttered to himself. “It couldn’t be…”

“What was that…pervy sage?” Naruto was unable to hear what his teacher was slowly deducing.

The older man just shook his head. “It’s nothing.” It was something he knew Naruto would know nothing about, at least. “We’re coming up on the village soon. After we reach the hospital, we will most likely be arrested, don’t resist them, Naruto. We don’t want any more trouble than necessary.”

Naruto did not respond, but rather increased his pace as he saw the looming gates of Kumogakure appear through the foliage of the trees.

* * *

“Halt! Who are you? What is your reason for entrance into Kumogakure?”

Naruto did not even land on the ground in front of the gates before he was met with questions from the two Kumo guards.

“We come in peace. We have an injured Kumo-nin with us, we want to take her to the hospital within Kumogakure.” Jiraiya answered the guards as he landed beside his pupil.

The two guards glanced at the body on the blonde Konoha-nin’s back. One guard made a choking sound. The other gasped. They had instantly recognized the Kumo jinchuriki.

“Yugito-sama!” One of the guards exclaimed. His eyes hardened as he glared at the two Konoha-nin. “What did you two do to Yugito-sama!” The man hissed, preparing his weapons to attack.

“We saved her, asshole!” Naruto snarled viciously. “Let us take her to the hospital like we said!”

The other guard seemed to understand the situation and waved at his fellow guard to lower his weapon. “Open the gates!” He hollered toward the gate keepers. The gates creaked as the large doors shuttered inward, opening up Kumogakure to the five ninja right outside.

The more amicable guard motioned at Naruto to pass the injured kunoichi over to him.

“Naruto, give him the girl.” Jiraiya hoped the guards would be preoccupied with their jinchuriki and the two of them could just sneak away before any questions were asked.

Naruto, instead, ignored the two and passed the gates, halting to ask the gatekeeper where the hospital was. The low-level ninja cowered slightly under the blonde’s hard gaze, knowing he should stop the shinobi and allow the guards to take Yugito-sama. However, the pressure the Konoha-nin was displaying with his eyes was enough to crack the gatekeeper and he told Naruto the location of the hospital. Getting his answer, he sprung away towards his destination. 

Jiraiya let out a sigh of acceptance and apologized to the two guards before he went to catch up with his protégé.

The two bounced from roof top to roof top, speeding towards the hospital. Jiraiya was impressed that Naruto could maintain his speed and enough nimbleness to avoid tripping or slipping after his ordeals. As they kept moving, they saw the sign for “hospital” appear in large red letters; the building was impossible to miss, even in the unfamiliar village.

Naruto slammed through the doors and Jiraiya winced at the boy’s crass behaviour.

“Hey, we need help!” The blonde hollered at the surprised medic employees. Naruto maneuvered Yugito so she was held in his arms, rather than on his back. When none of the medic-nin made any movements, the blonde barked again. “C’mon she needs treatment. Stop standing around!”

That startled the employees and a few of them fully absorbed the situation now. One of them shrieked, “Yugito-sama!” Another came rushed toward Naruto with a gurney dragging behind her.

“Place her here.” The medic-nin pointed at the gurney and Naruto did so gently. The other medic-nin around started to act as well, several surrounding the jinchuriki, observing her and discussing their procedures as they began to move as a unit. Naruto began to follow them when Jiraiya placed a hand on his shoulder. Naruto turned to face his teacher who simply shook his head at the boy, and then jerked his head towards the door.

Naruto let out a sigh, but the duo began to exit the building, sending one last look behind him at the now mostly empty general area. Almost immediately after delivering Yugito to the hospital medics and leaving the building, Jiraiya and Naruto were surrounded by several Kumo-nin. Naruto tensed, but remembered what Jiraiya said prior to entering the village, and forced himself to relax his muscles.

“You two, we are taking you in for questioning. This is an order by the Raikage, refuse and we will use force.”

“We understand.” Jiraiya replied calmly, glancing at Naruto to make sure he would not do anything unexpected.

“Follow us and do not break formation. If you do, we will use force.” The Kumo-nin surrounded the pair of Konoha-nin such that Naruto and Jiraiya were boxed in between the four Kumo-nin. Naruto and Jiraiya followed their captors without complaint.

Naruto looked up at the sky, it was clear, the sun shined brightly. It was such a nice day.

They arrived at the detainment center, a relatively non descript building. They were led through several doors before they entered a room where several other Kumo-nin were waiting, behind a large desk. They nodded towards the ninja that were escorting the duo and then one of the ninja behind the desk began to talk.

“You two will remove your clothing, except for your undergarments, as well as all your possessions. Give them to the ninja beside you and then wait for further orders.”

“C’mon you c-” Naruto was unable to finish his sentence as Jiraiya simply placed his hand on Naruto’s shoulder once more. Naruto hissed to himself. The ninja surrounding them took a few steps back to give them space to undress.

Naruto removed his wallet, weapons pouch, shuriken holder, and headband. He passed the first three to the Kumo-nin nearest to him and then began to tie his headband when he was interrupted by one of the shinobi by the desk.

“The headband as well.”

Naruto glared at the person talking. Naruto wanted to yell and scream and make a fuss, but he knew he put himself in this mess to begin with. Throwing a temper tantrum would not help him now. He placed the headband delicately in the Kumo-nin’s hand while he muttered obscenities to himself in a low voice.

Naruto noticed Jiraiya was still removing his items, including his materials. The man had many pockets filled with odds and ends. Naruto began to undress, removing his sandals, then unzipping his jacket.

“The fishnet too.”

Naruto rolled his eyes at the order but slipped off his fishnet shirt, nonetheless. He removed his pants and handed all his clothing articles to another Kumo-nin. Naruto heard a giggle and noticed one of the kunoichi behind the desk was staring at his lower half. Naruto glanced below and realised she was enjoying his toad printed boxers. Naruto looked back at her and sent her a cheeky grin, causing her to flush slightly at his directness.

“Like what you see?” Naruto chirped at her saucily. Her face turned even darker and she looked away from the blonde. Several of the Kumo-nin frowned in disapproval, either in his or the kunoichi’s direction at the comment, but Naruto heard one ninja try to stifle a chuckle behind his hand.

Jiraiya, now undressed as well, gave his protégé an amused look. “Looks like I’m rubbing off on you, brat.”

“Uh, I hope not.” Naruto replied with a grimace.

Jiraiya started to talk but was cut off by a disapproving cough by one of the ninja behind the desk. The shinobi glowered at the Konoha-nin before he spoke.

“You two will be given standard detainment clothing and will be taken to your cells. We will bring you to another location for questioning in the near future. And please, no more chit chat.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Naruto replied, hoping to annoy the Kumo-nin further.

Naruto and Jiraiya were given a grey shirt and grey pair of pants to wear, and the two dressed swiftly. After that they were handcuffed and began to move through the doors behind the desk into another room. Naruto unintentionally caught eye of the kunoichi who giggled before. He smirked at her and gave a little wave, causing her to quickly look at the ceiling.

As the student and teacher, and their escorts, moved down a step of steps, Jiraiya spoke to his student, “What was that about, kid?” Mirth dripped from his words.

Naruto shrugged, “Probably too tired to think straight.”

Jiraiya chuckled, because that could honestly be the truth, knowing his student.

After another beat of silence, the group arrived at the jail cells and each Konoha-nin was placed in a separate cell, though they were placed side by side. Their escorts left, but there were other guards that patrolled the area, walking back and forth, checking the many cells every few minutes.

“Eh, pervy sage, what do we do now?” Naruto asked his teacher as he began pacing his small cell. He was agitated about the confinement, but truly more anxious about his fellow jinchuriki’s condition.

“Here is what you are going to do. You take a nap, if you’re flirting with girls in a situation like this, you must be close to passing out from how tired you are.” Jiraiya chuckled. “Meanwhile, you let your amazing teacher work his magic and get us out of here.” Jiraiya flashed his student the peace sign which caused the blonde to snort in amusement.

“Alright, pervy sage.” Naruto was not sure where the elder man’s confidence came from, but Jiraiya rarely let Naruto down, so the younger man took a deep breath and laid down on the floor. “I’ll just close my eyes for a few minutes…” Naruto barely closed his eyes before he fell into slumber, his body taking a reprieve from his mental and physical fatigue.

“Naruto, walk up.”

Naruto bolted up from the toad sage’s command. Looking around, he remembered he was a jail cell. He rubbed his face vigorously to knock out any remnants of his tiredness. 

“How long was I out?” Naruto yawned. Talking a minute to stand and stretch his muscles. The floor had not been a nice bed, but he was mostly used to sleeping in poor conditions during his travel with Jiraiya.

“Can’t say exactly, but a few hours at least.” Jiraiya replied. “A few minutes indeed.” The older man smiled.

The blonde simply rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

The guard interrupted the two by opening Jiraiya’s cell and then Naruto’s. Naruto blinked in surprise, but then assumed they would be taken in for questioning.

“Follow me.” The guard said. He took them to another room, where two Kumo-nin were waiting with their clothing and items they were forced to leave behind.

“You two can remove your detainment clothing, and redress and take your things.”

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he took his items from the ninja. He did not understand why they would let them take their things back before questioning. It was strange. He looked at his teacher, who was grinning smugly at his student. Naruto stuck his tongue out at the toad sage in pure childish nature.

The duo dressed and took their belongings. Naruto began to place his headband, but Jiraiya stopped him.

“Hide that for now.” Jiraiya cautioned. Naruto tilted his head in confusion but listened to his teacher.

“Alright, do you two have all your belongings? I will escort you to the Raikage’s office now.” The kumo guard said with a curt nod and began walking, expecting the two to follow.

Naruto shot his teacher a look of surprise, which was met with the same smug smirk he had on before. Naruto sometimes felt that he did not give the old pervert enough credit.

“Lighting people don’t like Konoha ninja, but Kumo people really don’t like Konoha ninja.” Jiraiya leaned over to whisper into Naruto’s ear. That was why he made stopped Naruto from walking around displaying his headband.

The arrived at the Raikage’s building after a few minutes of walking. The guard talked briefly to the receptionist and then took Naruto and Jiraiya up a set of stairs to a large door that would enter into the Raikage’s office.

“Naruto, I want you to wait outside for a bit while I talk to the Raikage. I’ll have someone get you after a while.” Jiraiya told his pupil.

Naruto frowned at his teacher’s odd behaviour. “How come pervy sage, that doesn’t make much sense to me.”

“Just trust me Naruto. It’s the least you can do after getting us into this mess.” Jiraiya placed his hands on his hips, displaying a rare, no-nonsense tone from the man.

Naruto huffed in discontent. “Fine, whatever you say.” Naruto crossed his arms and sulked.

“That’s my boy.” Jiraiya ruffled the genin’s hair causing the blonde to squawk and lightly slap at the hand. But the toad sage’s actions and words had the boy grinning in delight.

The guard coughed to get their attention. “If we may?” He opened the door.

Naruto glimpsed inside to see a hulking figure of a man sitting behind a desk. His skin was a dark tan that was richer than anything you could find in Konoha. His Raikage cloak and hat, as well as his sitting position, hid most of his body, but just from looking at his bulging muscles near his collar bone, Naruto could tell the Raikage was built. Next to the man stood his attendant, a beautiful woman with rich caramel skin, and light grey hair. She was wearing a nice green dress that suited her.

The door closed and Naruto was left alone in front of the door. With time to kill, he observed the area. He looked around the corridor and saw that there were some people walking up and down the corridor, entering and exiting rooms busily.

“Hey.” Naruto called out at one of the shinobi, who was holding a stack of paper. The man turned and blinked owlishly at Naruto. Naruto waved toward himself, trying to signal for the man to approach. The man pointed at himself as if to say “who, me?” Naruto nodded.

The man approached. “Uh, what can I do for you sir?”

“Do you know where I could get a gift for someone who is in the hospital?”

“Do you mean flowers or something like that?”

“Yea! Flowers sound great. Could you tell me the location of a store?” Naruto asked the man.

“I think there is one a few blocks from the hospital.” The man gave Naruto some more detailed explanation on how to get to the store from the hospital and Naruto paid rapt attention, memorizing the route. “Is..that it?” The man asked quizzically.

“Yup! Thanks a lot, man.” Naruto grinned at the shinobi. The Kumo-nin bowed slightly, and walked away, muttering to himself about the weird interaction.

Naruto rocked back and forth on his heels while he wasted time thinking about a variety of topics. About what Jiraiya could be talking to the Raikage about (maybe giving him copies of his pervy book so they could leave the jail), what kind of food Kumo would have (hopefully ramen!), hoping that he could leave for Konoha soon and see all his friends, and occasionally drifting his thoughts towards Yugito and hoping she would be okay.

The door behind Naruto opened and the guard stepped out, motioning for Naruto to enter. Naruto saw that Jiraiya and the Raikage were chatting light heartedly but ceased their conversation as Naruto approached.

“So, are we out of jail or what?” No sooner had the words exited Naruto’s mouth, Jiraya’s hand came and slapped him on the back off his head. “Urk!”

“Haha, so sorry about that Raikage-sama. I’ve taught the brat a lot, but his manners not so much.” Jiraiya said, holding his pupil’s head down in a bow.

The Raikage seemed peeved but waved his hand to dismiss the toad sage’s worries.

“The jinchuriki of Konoha huh, your master has told me that you saved my jinchuriki’s life.” The dark-skinned man addressed the youngest shinobi in the room.

Naruto wiped a tear that had formed in his eye before he replied. “My name’s Naruto Uzumaki, and yea I saved Yugito’s life.” Naruto stressed his and Yugito’s name. There was an edge in the tone of his voice.

The leader of stroked his chin ignoring the impertinence of Naruto’s attitude, “I didn’t ask for your name, kid.”

“Might as well learn it now, since I’m going to be the next Hokage.” Naruto responded coolly, but his cobalt eyes stared at the Raikage, brimming with resoluteness.

‘Oh boy.’ Jiraiya thought to himself, scratching the top of his head.

The Raikage, meanwhile, could not hold back his smirk. “If I see you in a Hokage hat next time, I’ll try and remember it then, jinchuriki.” The mustached man sneered at the young blonde, the lack of respect in his voice evident. Naruto responded with an angry glare but did not say anything to combat the man. Naruto had been doubted by just about everyone on the shinobi hierarchy, the Raikage was just another notch to add to his motivation. “Anyhow, I believe Jiraiya’s report on the matter and I’m going to let you two go. Count your blessings that your teacher is one of the great Sannin!”

“You are too kind, Raikage-sama.” The toad sage’s voice was diabetic.

Naruto rolled his eyes at his teacher kissing up to the leader of Kumo.

“Your master has come to me with a favour and I plan to honor it, so from now on-” The Raikage started, however Jiraiya swiftly interrupted him.

“If you don’t mind, Raikage-sama, I intend to explain the situation once I acquire proper lodging for my student and I.” 

The Raikage nodded at the toad sage, “If that’s what you want Jiraiya. Ah, by the way, when you deliver the information, come to me directly. You two are dismissed.”

“Thank you for your patience and understanding.” Jiraiya bowed and glared daggers at Naruto, forcing him to do it too.

As they were exiting the room, Naruto muttered to himself in annoyance, “What was the whole point of detaining us, s’if he’s just gonna let us go so quick, jeez.”

“What was that!” The Raikage roared. Naruto turned around to see the man smash his large arm on the desk in front of him, splintering it to a thousand pieces. Naruto jaw dropped at the display of raw power.

“N-nothing Raikage-sama! Thanks for being so nice!” Naruto squeaked out in fear before bolting out of the room and down the stairs. Jiraiya gave the man an apologetic look and left the room as well.

The guard exited the room as well, unperturbed. The Raikage breaking his desk in anger was not an unusual scene for many of the Kumo-nin who frequented his office.

“Hmm, what a cute kid.” The caramel-skinned attendee offered her unsolicited thoughts, causing the Raikage to guffaw.

“You are probably twice his age, Mabui.”

Mabui frowned in disapproval, “I didn’t mean it like that, sir.”

“Sure, sure. Ah, make sure to get me a new desk.” The leader sat on his chair, feeling awkward without a desk to sit behind.

“Of course, sir, but please be sure to take more care with it this time.” At the rate the Raikage was going, they might need to form an alliance with Konohagakure just to have enough wood for the Raikage’s bad habit.

* * *

“Oi pervy sage, what was he talking about in there. ‘Bout a favor or something?” Naruto walked beside his teacher with his arms behind his head and his fingers laced together.

“Listen Naruto I…” The white-haired man began, before he spotted a restaurant and pointed towards it. “Why don’t we get some food first?”

“Sure!” Naruto chirped. He was starving. The two entered the establishment and were seated promptly. Naruto perused the menu looking for ramen. Frowning as he realised the restaurant did not carry it, he settled on char siu buns.

The waitress came over and the two ordered their food. While they were waiting Naruto asked again, “The favor?”

Jiraiya sighed at his student’s persistence. The boy was always peculiar about what he would and would not badger the Sannin about.

“Listen, you want to see the girl at the hospital, right?”

Naruto narrowed his eyes as his teacher avoided his question but nodded his head at the question.

“Well, go and visit her after we eat. I’m going to go look for a hotel, there will be plenty near the entrance of the gates. Come there after you check on her and I’ll find you. Then I’ll tell you about what I talked to the Raikage about. Sound good?”

Naruto tilted his head and squinted his eyes. He could tell Jiraiya was purposely avoiding talking about it, which only made Naruto more curious, but the plan was agreeable. Naruto did want to see Yugito as soon as possible and make sure she was okay.

“Alright, sounds good to me.”

Jiraiya smiled at his student and the two discussed some inane topics while they waited for their food. The waitress eventually placed the steam pork buns and fried rice in front of the student and teacher and the two dug in. Naruto shoveled half a bun in his mouth, chewing loudly as he struggling to swallow the large pieces. Jiraiya displayed much better table manners as he speedily polished off his fried rice. The pair had a habit of eating quickly, even if they thoroughly enjoyed the food.

As they paid an exited the restaurant, Naruto rubbed his belly in satisfaction. “Whoo, char siu buns are almost as good as char siu ramen!”

“That’s quite a high praise coming from you.” Jiraiya laughed.

“Yup!” Naruto placed his hands in his pants pockets as he walked beside the toad sage. “You headed to the hotels now, right?”

“Yea, and you’re going to the hospital?”

“Well I think I’ll visit a flower shop first.” This caused Jiraiya to raise his eyebrows in surprise.

“Wow, you’ve gone sweet on the girl already? That was fast, kid!” The older man grinned widely at his protégé. Naruto in turn looked at his teacher strangely.

“What, no! I barely know her. Bringing a gift is a normal thing to do when you visit someone at the hospital, perv.” Naruto told off his teacher.

“Of course, I know that, but I wouldn’t have expected you to understand hospital decorum.”

Naruto screwed his face trying to understand the word, “Huuuh, decorum?”

“It’s…never mind. The more pressing issue is that you think you need to know someone to like them. I mean all you got to do is check out the body! And that chick seemed to have a nice one!” The toad sage began to move his hands in a motion tried to replicate the curvature of Yugito’s body, while his nostrils flared in excitement.

“Ugh, you’re so gross! I’ll see you later.” Naruto shook his head at perverted sensei’s antics and leapt onto the roofs to hasten himself toward the store.

“Ahh what does he know, he’s just a kid.” Jiraiya exclaimed to himself in indignation as he made his way, leisurely, toward the hotel district.

* * *

Naruto was slightly adept with plants but knew little about flowers. He decided on a purple lilac, just because it tickled his fancy. Purchasing the flower, which came in a small bunch, he made his way towards the hospital which was within walking distance. He entered the medical building and made his way towards the receptionist.

“Hi, could you tell me where Yugito’s room is?” He asked pleasantly.

The receptionist scowled at the boy, causing Naruto to frown in confusion. “Yugito-sama’s room, is only available for close friends and family. I’m sorry.” The receptionist stated stressing the -sama.

“I’m, uh, I’m the one who brought her in. Can’t I see her?”

The receptionist leaned back in her chair and scoffed in disdain. “Right, sure.” She said in a tone obviously dismissing his words. That made Naruto start to lose his patience.

“Alright listen here, you don’t even kno-” Naruto was about to lay into the young lady when he felt a tugging on his sleeve. He turned ready to place his ire on the person interrupting him when he remembered her as the medic nin who brought the gurney to pick up Yugito. “Oh, it’s you.” Naruto said lamely, dissipating his anger.

“I’m sorry about that, sir. She’s in room 232. Just take the stairs at the end of the hall up one floor and then take the third left after that. It’s the second room.” She smiled gently at Naruto.

The receptionist stood up. “Why would you tell him that?!” She stated angrily.

“He actually did bring her in, you should apologize.” She sternly commanded the receptionist. This caused the young lady at the desk to blush in embarrassment.

“Oh…I’m sorry…I just…I apologize I didn’t mean to-” The girl struggled to articulate why she had a negative reaction.

“Don’t worry about it.” Naruto said easily. “It’s water under the bridge.” He smiled brightly at the girl, who seemed appreciative. “And, thanks a lot.” Naruto turned to the medic nin, bowing his head slightly to give his thanks.

He followed the medic-nin’s direction and made his way toward Yugito’s room. He opened the door and entered.

He was met by four pairs of eyes staring at him.

Yugito was lying on a hospital bed, with her back inclined so she was sitting up. She was wearing a hospital gown and her hair was loose, flowing around her back, with some strands littering the front of her face. Naruto was glad to see she seemed alert and healthy.

The other three people were strangers to Naruto. One was a male with light, spikey hair and dark skin that seemed quite common in Kumo. He was sucking a lollipop. Next to him were two ladies, one was another milk chocolate skinned individual with dark red hair, and the other was a fair skinned lady with, well, voluptuous boobs. She also had blonde hair, Naruto noted as an after thought.

“Hey, who the hell are you? You can’t just barge in here!” The red-head declared angrily, pointing at Naruto.

“Oh man, a stranger. What could he want? Could he be here to assassinate Yugito-sama? Ah, maybe even worse, what if he’s here to assassinate me?” The other male in the room muttered to himself.

Naruto watched mouth agape, as the two people acted so wildly in a hospital room. The third member viewed the situation with a neutral expression, but Naruto could tell she was watching him closely, just in case. Yugito had her face in her hands.

Yugito let out a sigh of exasperation. “You guys, knock it off. This is Naruto-san, he’s the one who saved my life.” Naruto rubbed the back of his head in bashfulness at the last comment. The demeanour of the other shinobi changed immediately.

The male member of the group walked up to Naruto and clasped one of Naruto’s hands in both of his.

“Oh man, thanks so much for saving Yugito-sama. Who knows what would have happened if you didn’t? After Yugito-sama, those guys would probably come after Bee, and then the village, and then the rest of the world most likely!” He shook Naruto’s hand between both of his rapidly.

“Uh, yea. No problem.” Naruto did not really understand how to deal with the strange fellow. His teammate stepped up to help Naruto out, however. In a manner very reminiscent of Sakura, to Naruto, the red-head slammed her first into the skull of the tan-skinned boy, causing him to release his grip and face plant into the ground.

“Stop acting like that Omoi, you’re annoying Yugito-sama’s saviour!” The girl turned her attention to Naruto and beamed at the blonde. She shook his hand normally. “Thanks for giving those Akatsuki bastards what-for. We’ll leave you guys to talk some.” She turned to her fallen comrade and dragged him out of the room, by using the hood on his shirt.

The third member bowed at Yugito, “Sorry for the trouble Yugito-sama.”

“Don’t worry about it Samui, those kids can be a handful, I understand.”

Samui gave the Kumo jinchuriki a small smile and exited the room, giving Naruto a nod of acknowledgement on her way out.

Now alone with his fellow jinchuriki, Naruto scratched his head and gave a nervous smile at the lady. “Colourful bunch of friends you got.”

The bed-ridden kunoichi let out a short, but brilliant laugh at his statement. “Yes, quite colourful. Although I wouldn’t have them any other way. Why don’t you sit down?” She offered the chair next to her bed for the blonde boy.

He sat down and presented the flower to Yugito. “It’s a get-well gift.”

The Kumo kunoichi’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, but a smile graced her face as she accepted the gift. “Thank you, Naruto-san. That’s so sweet of you.” She took a sniff of the bunch of flowers and sighed in content. “What a beautiful colour, and a nice smell as well. Did you happen to bring a vase?”

Naruto’s eyes widened and he slapped his forehead. “Ah man, I didn’t even think about that.” He groaned at his stupidity.

Yugito simply smiled at him. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll enjoy it while it’s still alive.” She took another smell of the flowers and then placed them on the table on her bedside. “I’d like to give a proper introduction.” She faced the Konoha-nin. “My name is Yugito Nii, it’s a pleasure to meet you in a much more relaxed environment.” She extended her hand.

Naruto took her hand at gave a firm handshake. “Naruto Uzumaki, but, uh, you already knew that.” He let out a small chuckle. After the handshake, Yugito Nii bowed her head at the younger man.

“Thank you for saving my life Naruto-san.” Her words were seeped in appreciation.

Naruto waved his arms in front of himself in protest. “Ah, you don’t have to worry about it, I just did the right thing, y’know?” This made Yugito raise an eyebrow in surprise.

“I’m sure jumping in to help a foreign kunoichi, is not the right thing to do by any countries shinobi standards. Especially if the enemies are S-ranked missing-nin.”

“Oh well, in the Naruto handbook, it’s one hundred percent the right thing to do.” Naruto stated as if he was observing that the sky is blue.

“In that case, I’m glad you’re the one who stumbled upon me. You’re a rare breed of shinobi.” Yugito said with mirth in her dark eyes.

“That’s a compliment, right?” Naruto squinted, unsure if he was being insulted or not.

“Yes, it is Naruto.”

“Cool!” The boy grinned widely. Yugito found his smile contagious and the corners of her mouth were upturned as well. “Anyway, I’m glad your okay, that Hidan guy was doing some crazy stuff.” Naruto grimaced as he remembered the Jashinist.

“It didn’t seem like he was trying to kill me, I don’t think I was even going to die from blood loss for at least a couple more hours either. Seemed he was more interested in inflicting pain, than damage.”

“What a sicko.” Naruto growled.

“At least he is no more. Your sensei was the one who killed him? Correct?” Yugito asked the boy.

“Yea it was pervy sage, who got him.” Naruto clarified for the kunoichi.

“Pervy sage?” Yugito asked, perturbed by the moniker.

“I mean, Jiraiya, the toad sage.”

Yugito flinched from hearing Naruto call the great Sannin by his pet name. “You called the esteemed Jiraiya as such? Why?”

Naruto shrugged. “He’s a pervert and he’s a sage…so pervy sage.”

“I…I see.” This new-found information was hard for Yugito to swallow.

“Anyway,” Naruto leaned back in his chair, “do you know when you get to leave this place?”

“They will discharge me tomorrow, really I’m only staying overnight as a precaution.”

Naruto smiled at the news. “That’s awesome.”

“…Naruto-san, do you know when you are leaving?” Yugito asked the boy.

“Uh not, sure, probably soon, but who knows with pervy-sage. And no need to call me Naruto-san, just call me Naruto! I hope I can call you Yugito, as well.”

“Well I suppose I can’t deny my saviour a small wish such as that.” Yugito grinned as Naruto’s face twisted in discomfort.

“Ah, man, don’t call me your saviour. If it wasn’t for pervy sage, both of us would be toast.” Truthfully, Naruto was frustrated that he struggled so much with the Akatsuki members. Even with three tails of the Kyuubi’s power, he ended up in a position where he would have been killed if Jiraiya did not bail him out.

“No need to be modest Naruto. Your sensei helped, yes, but without you I would have been far before your sensei made it to us.” Seeing the blonde boy squirm in his seat, she changed the topic. “Naruto, if you are still here tomorrow, why don’t we get lunch together?”

“Lunch?”

“Yes, and maybe I can show you some of Kumogakure’s famous sites? I feel like that’s the least I can do.”

“Wow, that sounds amazing!” Naruto exclaimed in joy. “Ah, but I don’t know what hotel I’m staying at, and you’re getting discharged right? How are we going to meet up?”

Yugito smirked and tapped her nose. “Nibi’s chakra lets me get a great sense of smell if I want. I’ll just sniff you out.”

Naruto’s eyes bugged out. “Sniff me out?! Are you saying I smell?” Naruto lifted his arm and smelled his armpits, but he could not discern any repugnant odours.

Yugito giggled at Naruto’s antics. “No, no, don’t worry about it. You’re from Konoha right? It’s similar to what the Inuzuka clan can do. People tend to have their own distinct smells.”

“Ahh, I see. So, you’re gonna, use my smell to find me.”

“Yes, that’s the gist of it.”

Naruto scratched the back of his head. “Uh, kind of weird, but cool I guess.” Naruto glanced at the clock about Yugito’s head. It was getting late.

“Damn, I gotta go Yugito. Need to find pervy sage and hit the hay.” Naruto stood up from the chair.

“Of course, Naruto. It was lovely talking to you. Thank you for the flower.” Yugito smiled warmly at her fellow jinchuriki. Naruto gave her a toothy grin in return.

“Yeah, I’m glad you like it. I’ll see ya tomorrow for our date!” Thr exuberant boy waved at the older girl once, before exiting. Yugito coughed slightly at Naruto’s choice of words.

“A date huh.” Yugito rubbed her forehead with the back of her thumb. “Kids these days are so impetuous.”

Yugito reached over to the lilacs Naruto brought her. Brining them to her face, she basked in their gentle fragrance once more.


	3. Chapter 3

“Are you kidding me, Jiraiya?” The toad sage expected Naruto to scream at him. Rather what he got was a steady, but icy tone he never heard his student use before. “I’ve had enough of your bullshit. We’ve already gone two months past when we were supposed to return, and you expect me to stay here for God knows how long? Forget it.”

“Do you know how rare of an opportunity this is, Naruto? Do you know how many jinchuriki have not been captured? Including you its only five! Gaara arguably has worse control over his biju than you, one is from Iwa and would kill us before helping you, and of the last two, both of them are here in Kumo! And one of them will definitely help you learn to control the Kyuubi. This is a once in a lifetime chance. Even with all my training, you can barely control three-tails worth of chakra and it still damages you. But you saw that Nibi girl, right? All her damage came from the Akatsuki, nothing from her biju. Perfect, or near perfect control! Forget saving Sasuke, if you could learn to control the nine-tails, the Akatsuki would be worrying about you instead of the other way around.” Jiraiya’s student listened to him with uncharacteristic patience, but he still held the toad sage’s gaze with a cold look.

“Why would Yugito want to help me? I’m sure she has better stuff to do.”

“Are you kidding, kid? You just saved her life, I’m sure she would be glad to do something for you in return, and this is the perfect chance. And even if she didn’t want to, the Raikage is going to make her.” Jiraiya did his best to explain with his mounting frustration.

“You can’t do that! You can’t force her to do something she doesn’t want to!” Naruto was nearly frothing. His chilly demeanor was slowly shedding to reveal the scorching anger behind it. Staying away from Konoha for so long, not being able to save Sasuke, and now Jiraiya saying he would force Yugito to do something against her wishes was starting to take a toll on his emotions. His eyes flickered between its normal azure blue and the vermillion red as a morsel of the Kyuubi’s charka seeped into him.

“Calm down. It’s normal for shinobi to take missions that don’t want to, but that won’t happen. I’m telling you she will be happy to do this. And look at you, a little agitation and you are already letting the nine-tail’s charka leak. Can you honestly say you do not need more training to control it?” Jiraiya placed his hand on his student’s shoulder to help calm him down.

Naruto let out a deep breath and shut his eyes. Slowly, he let the malevolent chakra dissipate. He knew the pervert was right to an extent. He and Jiraiya had gone as far as they could with controlling his biju’s chakra. He was right about Yugito’s control too. He never even considered that a jinchuriki would be able to reach the full state of their biju without opening their seal. Yugito also looked relatively healthy at the hospital too. The one-time Naruto went into four-tails and lost his mind, he laid, bed ridden, for almost four days straight.

“You promised me. Two and a half years, you said! It’s going to be three years soon, and Sasuke is going to become Orochimaru’s puppet. But you don’t care, do you.” Naruto hissed in disdain. Jiraiya sighed, pulling back his hand from Naruto’s shoulder and then rubbing his face. Naruto’s devotion to his traitorous teammate exhausted him. His bond to the Uchiha was many times stronger than the toad sage’s ever was to his own friend turned enemy, but Jiraiya also thought it was that many times more foolish. Jiraiya knew when to cut his loses, Naruto absolutely refused to do so. It could be a strength at times, but in most cases, it came off as a weakness. The older man also knew he needed to tread this topic delicately, another annoyance for him.

“Naruto,” Jiraiya started, taking a quick moment to place the right words, “shouldn’t you have more faith in Sasuke?”

“What?!” Naruto exclaimed, his face filled with perturbed shock.

“He wants to kill Itachi, enough that he left the village, where endless amount of people would throw themselves at his feet to train him, in his quest to get power. Do you think he would really just bend over and let Orochimaru take his body?”

“I know he won’t just let him, but Orochimaru is strong. And that bastard Kabuto is there too.” Naruto heatedly replied.

“You need to trust him.” Jiraiya said firmly. “More than that, look at yourself. If you went to fight Orochimaru, could you win? No, Naruto, you can’t.”

“That’s why we need to go back to the village! My friends will help us save Sasuke!” Naruto slapped his chest as a point of punctuation.

“Say we go back and Tsunade lets you chase after Sasuke, which we don’t have many leads to where he could be, mind you. She lets you take, what, three or four members? Kakashi, Sakura, you, and maybe another one of your friends? Against Orochimaru, Kabuto, Sasuke and whatever other grunts Orochimaru has. As you are, right now, there’s no chance, I’m sorry.”

“So, you won’t help me, sensei?” Naruto spat, venomously.

“Listen here, you brat.” Jiraiya snapped, his protégé pushing the toad sage to his limits. “You’ve followed me like a puppy for almost three years so you of all people should know everything I do is for the village. Akatsuki is the biggest threat, not just to you, but quite possibly the world, and all you care about is your dumbass boyfriend. If you want to save him, go ahead, but I have better things to do, and more than that, no fucking way am I letting you run to him and get yourself killed because you were busy bitching about waiting an extra month or two for training! You will stay in Kumo, you will train under the Kumo jinchuriki, and you will master the Kyuubi’s charka.” 

Naruto bared his teeth at his master. His eyes became misty with unshed tears in the pure rage he felt towards the man who he considered like a father. “Fuck you!” Naruto screamed before jumping out the open window, heading as far from the hotel as possible.

“Naruto! Wait!” Jiraiya called out at the boy, who the toad sage lost sight of as soon as Naruto bounded behind several of the hotels surrounding them. The toad sage muttered curses under his breath knowing he should have handled the matter with more care. But the kid often lost sight of the bigger picture, and Jiraiya always found it hard to make him see it. The Sannin went to the sink and washed his face, letting the cool water trickle down his warm face. He could try and chase his pupil, but he knew it would not help at the moment. The child just needed some time alone to breathe. Naruto might be angry now, however, he was not the type to let it stick with him. With hopes that his protégé would be more welcoming of the idea to train in Kumo in the morning, Jiraiya laid down in his bed and slowly drifted into sleep.

* * *

“Fuck.” Naruto slammed his fist into the training post for the umpteenth time. It was pitch black in the training ground, only a large lamp post at the opening of the area shed enough light that a ninja could practice with ease during the night.

“Fuck that old pervert.” Naruto punched the post again, the force causing splinters to blast out and some clipped his skin. Blood began to run down his knuckles, however, Naruto ignored it. “Fuck that bitch, Sasuke.” His swung his fist again, his blood leaving stains on the post. “Fuck Orochimaru.” Punch. “Fuck Itachi.” Punch. “Fuck the Kyuubi!” Naruto snarled, delivering a series of blows to the helpless post. His blood splatter reached from the tip of the post all the way to the grass underneath. Both his hands were bubbling fresh blood from the numerous cuts that adorned them now. The cuts throbbed in pain, and the cool night air caused his knuckles to sting. It was not enough to sate Naruto’s rage, however.

“Fuck me and how weak I am! I’m such a piece of shit!” Naruto roared as he attempted to smash straight through the training log with his fists. He was unsuccessful, though he did leave numerous dents in the log, each stained scarlet. Several areas of the post already became caked with his coagulating blood, showing off burgundy red splotches rather than others with fresher, scarlet red indentations. Naruto, panting heavily from his exertion, flopped to the ground. He wiped his steadily dripping hands on his orange pants, ruining them with random red streaks. He knew that despite the amount of blood spilling out, the cuts were nothing serious and they would heal by tomorrow morning. He did not carry bandages either way, so it was not like he could wrap them now. So, it was a moot point to worry about.

The young shinobi, satisfied with the slowed stream of blood, crossed his legs and rested his forearms on his thighs, his hands forming loose fists that barely touched each other. He picked up mediation during his travels with Jiraiya. Without it, he was sure he would have killed the old pervert by now. While he loved his sensei, the man was a walking irritation for Naruto. Stealing his money, spending days at the whore houses, ignoring his training in favour of writing smut, making Naruto edit the damn smut! No, mediation was necessary to handle Jiraiya, although Naruto never felt this level of rage toward the toad sage before.

He focused on his breathing, on each breath going in and out. He lost focus of the chilly breeze, he lost focus on the stinging pain rhythmically pulsating from his knuckles, he lost focus on the metallic tang of his own blood coating the posts behind him and the earthy smell of the training field. Most importantly he lost focus on the anger he felt toward his teacher, and his rage toward his own weakness.

In. Out. In. Out.

Gradually, Naruto let his mind wander off the breathing as well. Letting his consciousness reach a free-floating area that was not weighted by his earthly desires or worries. Naruto was never sure exactly how to describe this state of being, the jinchuriki lacked the vocabulary to do it justice. It helped him reach peace and that thought more than satisfied him. As he reached his nirvana, he felt the nagging twitch of his anger coming back, penetrating his semi-conscious state. The heat of his anger flickered within him forming an ember that burned more and more, quickly becoming a flame. Naruto hissed in disappointment and opened his eyes.

Instead of the mildly illuminated training field, the intricate pillars of the Kyuubi’s cage met his gaze. His ankles already drenched in the stagnant water. The beast moved in a bubbling form of charka that stuck together and separated at the monster’s leisure. The sickening feeling of its corrupt chakra made Naruto’s stomach churn violently.

**“Rare for you to visit me, boy.”** The beast’s booming voice reverberating in Naruto’s ears.

“It’s not liked I wanted to. I was meditating and it just happened.” Naruto walked toward the gate, stopping mere inches from the massive pillars. As a young boy, the proximity to the beast cowed him, but now the hatred he feels toward the beast repels any lingering fear.

**“Ha! Meditating? You and calm go together as well as you and that cursed Uchiha child.”** The beast snickered at its own joke, its jowls shifting showing off its impressive canines. **“You should forget that and let your anger take over. Meditating, trying to control yourself, that’s not who you are.”**

“No one asked you for your shit opinion, fox.” Naruto seethed, eyes flashing angrily.

**“Hate! Hate! Don’t fight it, let your hate spill! We are not so different, monkey, let me hate with you, let me singe their corpses for you.”** The Kyuubi’s tails beating at the thought of carnage.

“I’m not a blood-thirsty monster like you. I want to protect people, that’s what it means to be Hokage. You’re watching me, you should know that.” Naruto snarled in response.

**“Yes, I’m watching you Naruto, that’s why I know what your heart truly desires. Find the Uchiha boy and kill him, so you can take that pink-haired wench for yourself, yes?”** The beast smiled mockingly at his retainer.

“Fuck you, you don’t understand a damn thing about me!” Naruto howled at his tenant, slamming his fists against the iron tight bars.

**“And you don’t understand me, weakling. You deny me now, but, like always, you will return to me with your tail between your legs, begging for my power. Now leave!”**

Naruto’s eyes snapped open and he found himself in the training grounds, once more. The pungent mixture of smells coming from his dried blood, his sweat, and the soil assaulted his nose, causing him to groan and flop to the ground. Exhaustion overwhelmed him. Emotionally, physically, and mentally fatigued, he wanted to go back to the hotel, take a hot shower, and sleep in a warm bed, but his desire to avoid Jiraiya was much stronger. He curled up into a ball, keeping his appendages as close as possible to his core body heat, and did his best to find slumber.

* * *

“Naruto, Naruto, wake up.” Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently. He groaned and opened his eyes, using his hands to shield them from the morning rays. She smelled nice, that was the first thing he noticed, before his eyes adjusted to the light properly. She obviously showered before she came to the training ground, and it juxtaposed sharply with his repugnant odor. He rubbed his eyes, trying to shake off his grogginess. “Naruto, what happened to you? There’s blood all around you, and on your hands!” Yugito’s coal dark eyes were filled with concern.

“Yugito…morning.” Naruto yawned and stood up, brushing off his clothing. It did not help with the streaks of dried blood on his pants.

“Morning? It’s almost twelve! Anyway, never mind that. What happened to you?” She placed her hands on her hips, her sharp eyebrows dipping into a stern frown.

“Nothing much, I was just letting out some steam.” He glanced at the training post and Yugito followed his gaze. She observed the damage done to the post, as well as the dried blood stains. She could see he unloaded his aggression into the post without caring for his own wellbeing.

“What made you do this?”

Naruto scratched his head. “It’s just…did you talk to the Raikage yet?” The whiskered youth asked suddenly.

Yugito shook her head. “No, I have a meeting with him tomorrow. Why do you ask?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.” Naruto said before he pulled the front of his jacket up to his nose and took a sniff. “Man, I smell, and I feel so dirty! Do you mind if I go home and take a shower? Then we can get lunch, if you’re still up for that.”

“Naruto…I’m up for it, but what about all this? Do you want to talk about it?” Yugito asked, gesturing to the broken post, caked with blood.

Naruto scratched his cheek, humming in mock consideration. “No, I’m good, it wasn’t much. Don’t worry about it.”

Yugito hesitated, any shinobi worth their salt could tell something was wrong with the whiskered youth, yet she also felt it was not her place to pry if had no plans to share. “Alright then, shall we go to your hotel?”

“Un!” Naruto sounded in agreement, walking toward his hotel with Yugito following beside him. “So, what did you do so far today?”

“Nothing in particular. I was discharged, I went home and took a shower. I wrote out my mission report, delivered it, killed some time talking to my friends you met yesterday, and now, here I am, ready for our lunch.”

“Ready for our lunch huh? You’re making fun of me, aren’t you?” Naruto smiled at his fellow blonde.

Yugito missed his line of reasoning. “How do you mean?” She asked with a frown.

“Cuz you showed you smelling nice and looking pretty…and I’m like the opposite.” Naruto joked, scratching the back of his head.

“I…did not mean it like that. I’m sure you have your reasons for being as you are.” The older blonde responded patting him on the back reassuringly.

“It’s cuz I’m a fucking brat.” Naruto mumbled under his breath, however Yugito’s keen ears heard it clearly. She decided not to comment on the remark.

When they arrive at the hotel room, Naruto knocked on the door. “Jiraiya? Pervy sage?” Hearing no response, Naruto took his key from his pocket and opened the door. “I’ll just be a minute, have a seat.” Naruto told his guest before rummaging in his backpack for some clothing to wear out. Choosing some satisfactory clothes, he walked to the bathroom, leaving Yugito alone in the room.

Yugito moved toward the bed the bag Naruto took his clothes from was closest to. There were several scrolls strewn on top of it and also some unused instant ramen cups. She gently pushed them aside to make room to sit down. She looked at the other bed, which must have been Jiraiya-sama’s. It was in a neater condition than Naruto’s. Nothing on it and the sheets made.

The younger blonde showered extremely quickly and came out, dressed, after only a few minutes.

“Ready to go?” Naruto asked his older friend, who nodded in response.

“Is there anything in particular you want to eat?” Yugito barely finished her sentence when Naruto spoke.

“Ramen.”

“Ramen? Alright, I know a place.” Yugito smiled at her fellow Jinchuriki and she led them to the dining establishment. Compared to Ichiraku Ramen, which is a modest eight-person open stall, the restaurant Yugito took Naruto required the customers to dine inside.

Sitting down, Naruto looked at the price tag and gulped. The price here nearly doubled Ichiraku’s!

“Ah, do you find it expensive?” Yugito asked. “Actually, ramen is not a very common cuisine here. Since it’s a specialty, the prices are a bit more premium.”

“Oh, man.” Naruto groaned. Who knew how long he would have to pay double the price for ramen? He needed to tell the Kyuubi to shut up and listen to him as soon as possible.

“I’ll pay for you, Naruto, don’t worry.” Yugito mistook Naruto’s groan as an inability to pay for the food.

“What? No way, I’ve got it. Thanks though.”

Yugito frowned, “I insist. You saved my life, this is the least I can do.”

Naruto hesitated, “C’mon I didn’t really do anything special. Besides, what kind of man would I be if I let my date pay for me?”

Yugito placed her elbow on the table and propped her face on it. She smiled at the younger shinobi. Such outdated rhetoric, she found it cute coming from him though.

“How about, I pay today, and sometime, before you leave, we get lunch again and you pay for us then?”

“Well, that sounds alright.” Naruto agreed to her compromise.

The two ordered ramen, spicy pork for Naruto and shoyu ramen for Yugito.

“It’s pretty good, but I’ve had better.” Naruto said once their meal finished.

“Really? This is the only ramen place I’ve been to, so I can’t really compare it to others.” Yugito pulled out the amount of money on the receipt and paid it. The two of them standing, ready to leave. They bid the waitress a farewell as they left.

“You should come to Konoha sometime, I’ll show you the best ramen place in the world, y’know?” Naruto grinned at the kunoichi, wrapping his arms behind his head.

“Well, if I ever make the trip there, I’ll be sure to find you.” Yugito promised with a smile.

“So, sight seeing,” Naruto started, his eyes gleaming in excitement. “What have you got to show me?”

Yugito smirked, mischievousness entering her tone, “Tell me, Naruto, have you ever heard of the term ‘amusement park’?”

* * *

Naruto exited the ride, his mouth stretched so wide from smiling, it began to hurt. His clothes ruffled from the speed of the ride, and it messed up his hair as well. But, he could not care less, the experience blowing his mind.

“Holy Kami, Yugito! We have to go again!” Naruto jumped and down, amped up from the thrill of riding this so called ‘roller coaster.’ Yugito preened herself, fixing her hair and clothes, but smiled at the whiskered shinobi. It seemed whatever issues that were on his mind before were long forgotten.

“Are you sure, Naruto, there are other rides as well.”

“Damnit, you’re right. Uh…” Naruto looked around, overwhelmed. Large masses of people meandered around, some lining up for rides, others purchasing the various food and treats from the stalls strewn around, and some others relaxing on the numerous benches throughout the park. A massive wheel in the middle of the park that he could see even from their location caught his eyes. “What’s that?”

“Ah, they call it a Kuroko Wheel, after its creator. He is actually the father of the park owner. It’s a slow ride, but you get an amazing view of Kumogakure.” Yugito described to him. The boy shuffled around excitedly hearing her explanation.

“Let’s go!” He grabbed her hand then ran toward the line, the older kunoichi laughing at his exuberance.

The line moved slowly, especially with the laborious movement of the wheel, however Naruto did not mind since he enjoyed talking with Yugito.

“These machines are incredible! We have nothing like these in Konoha. I mean we’ve got some cool stuff like festivals and Kabuki plays, things like that, but they are kind of, I don’t know, lame compared to this?”

The Kumo kunoichi giggled. “Most of the machines are pretty new actually. When I was a child only the Merry-Go-Round, Spinning Cups, and this Kuroko Wheel existed.”

“So how do they work? I can’t believe these things actually move on their own.” Naruto stared at the giant wheel in awe.

“Well, I’m no expert, but I believe every morning they store electricity in those boxes, you see there? And what that does is it powers the ride through the special conductive metal they use as the tracks. For the Kuroko Wheel, the huge cylinder in the middle of the wheel is made of that metal. All the containers people ride in here are created with a material that insulate them from getting shocked. It’s really powerful stuff actually, the company that owns the park owns the patent on it.” The older blonde told the Konoha-nin.

Naruto screwed his eyes shut and nodded his head in agreement.

Yugito sighed, “You didn’t understand, did you?”

Caught in the act, Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly. “Sorry, this kind of stuff confuses me. All I got is that it’s powered by electricity, hehe.”

“Well, as long as you are having fun.” Yugito smiled at her fellow blonde, who beamed back.

“I’m having a blast! How about you?”

“I’m enjoying myself too. Doing things like this is more fun when you are with a friend, isn’t it?”

“Yeah! One hundred percent.” Naruto pumped his fist in excitement, earning himself another giggle from the pretty blonde.

The two continued trying out the different rides, eating some snacks along the way, both shinobi having a fantastic time.

* * *

“Oh, man.” Naruto sighed, their day done, they were walking back to his hotel.

“What’s wrong, Naruto? Didn’t you have a good time?” Yugito was certain she impressed her new friend with the amusement park.

“An unbelievable time! But, what am I supposed to show you in Konoha now?” Naruto scowled, knowing nothing he thought about could compete with such a fun place.

“I’m sure you will think of something.” Yugito smiled, even though she would like to see Konohagakure, she did not plan on going there anytime soon.

As Naruto mused about his dilemma, the two shinobi reached their destination.

“Yugito!” Naruto turned toward his Kumo friend, grinning widely at her. “Thank you for showing me such a great time. I’ll make it up to you one day, for sure!”

Yugito pulled some hair behind her ear and returned a smile back to him, though not as large as his. Most people couldn’t replicate the orange-clad shinobi in that regard. “You are very welcome, Naruto. Anytime you come to Kumogakure I’ll do my best to match today’s experience.”

Naruto let his eyes drop to the floor, his smile gone. This confused Yugito, not sure what she said that upset him.

Looking back at her, his cerulean eyes meet her dark orbs, he looked guilty.

“Actually, Yugito, I need to tell you something.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“What is it, Naruto?” She asked gently. Whatever it was, he seemed stricken trying to put it into words.

“I…I’m probably not leaving Kumo anytime soon.”

Yugito blinked a few times processing the information.

“See, the thing is, they’re going to make you train me. The Raikage I mean.” His eyes dropped back down to the floor. “On how to control my biju.”

“Is that what Raikage-sama is going to talk to me about tomorrow?” Yugito asked the doleful blonde. She saw him nod his head. She reached out her hand and rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. “So, what are sad about then?”

Naruto eyes were clouded with confusion when he looked her in the eye. No annoyance or anger were in Yugito’s eyes, only concern existed in them. 

“Well, I mean, why would you want to train me? I’m sure you have better things to do.”

Yugito shook her head. “Listen, Naruto, I would love to train you. There’s no need to be sad. Did you think I would tell you no? You saved my life, this is a paltry exchange.”

Naruto, his stomach flipping from both anger and happiness, gently removed Yugito’s hand from his shoulder.

“Yugito, please stop throwing that I saved you in my face like that. I don’t deserve that kind of respect.” Naruto did not mean to sound that aggressive, but he didn’t try and apologize for it either.

The Kumo-nin gazed at the frowning boy in shock once more. She noticed it yesterday too, but he spoke more frankly today about balking at the idea of being called a saviour. Even though he clearly was.

“If you…if you really don’t mind training me, I’d be super happy. But, if you’re just doing it because you think I saved you, you’re better of complaining to the Raikage until he lets you do something else.” He lifted his head, but his eyes wandered everywhere except her face.

Yugito stood frozen, stunned by his declaration. Finally, collecting herself, she gripped him fiercely by the head, forcing him to look into her eyes once more.

“Naruto, I’m going to train you, and we are going to make it so you can use the Kyuubi to its full capabilities okay? And I’m doing this because I like you and I want you to become stronger, not just because you saved me. Alright?” Firmly, but gently, she told him.

The blonde boy barely moved his head up and down in a nod, his face flushed red. His big blue orbs filled with appreciation.

Yugito let go of the nine-tailed Jinchuriki’s head, smirking at him. “Though, I must tell you, I’m not an easy teacher. You’d better prepare yourself.”

Naruto tried to keep down the smile breaking on his face, but it was hopeless. “Yes, sensei!” He saluted his new teacher, his sloppy grin plastered proudly on his face.

“Have you gotten everything off your chest now, Naruto?” Yugito asked her new pupil.

“Hehe, yeah, sorry I was such a downer this morning.” Naruto scratched the back of his head bashfully.

“This afternoon.” Yugito corrected with a smirk, “Remember you woke up just in time for lunch?”

“Oh right.”

“Well, if that’s all,” Yugito leaned over and, to Naruto’s surprise, she pinched his cheek moving the baby fat back and forth, “Have a good night, my cute student.” She teased, before pulling away. She laughed at Naruto’s foolish expression before she leapt onto the rooftops to head home.

Naruto rubbed his sore cheek. “Damn, she’s got a tight grip.” He muttered to himself.

He let out a sigh, enjoying the cool night breeze, stretching quickly, before slapping himself on both cheeks.

“Better go apologize to the pervert then.” Naruto nodded to himself, before heading to their shared room. The fun day with Yugito clearing him of all his regret from the morning.


End file.
